Arizona police agency to roll out immigration training

by JJ Hensley - May. 19, 2010 01:46 PMThe Arizona Republic

A one- to two-hour digital training program will be sent to 170 Arizona police agencies starting June 30 by the Arizona Police Officer Standards and Training Board to instruct them on how to comply with Arizona's tough new immigration law.

The POST board voted 11-0 Wednesday to approve the training plan.

Arizona's immigration law makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally. It requires an officer engaged in a lawful stop, detention or arrest, when practicable, to ask about a person's legal status when reasonable suspicion exists that the person is in the U.S. illegally.

When Gov. Jan Brewer signed the measure into law, she directed the statewide police-training agency to create a standardized program to guide officers in its enforcement. A key part of that training will be to be sure officers have a firm understanding of what constitutes "reasonable suspicion" that an individual is in the country illegally.

"We're going to train that race, ethnicity is not part of the determination of reasonable suspicion," Lyle Mann, POST's chairman, said.

However, POST officials noted Wednesday that it will remain up to individual police agencies to decide if and how their training program will be administered to their employees.

The law does not require officers to receive the immigration training to retain their POST certification, but officers are required to have at least eight hours of various types of POST training every year. The immigration training will count toward that requirement if officers so choose.

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office already provides its own immigration-enforcement training for its deputies.
A summary of the training plan released Wednesday suggests it will emphasize how to avoid racial profiling and how officers can operate to comply with the law. Lyle Mann, chairman of POST, said it is crucial for Arizona police officers to understand and enforce the law properly, since the eyes of the nation – and particularly other states considering similar laws – will be watching.

"I think it's incumbent on us to point out the totality of circumstances officers are being asked to immerse themselves in," Mann said.

The program's outline indicates that the digitally-recorded training will be provided to a majority of Arizona's roughly 15,000 officers. It will be put together in segments, allowing officers to be trained through briefing, self-paced learning or E-learning.

The goal of the first section will be to set the tone concerning professionalism, and to give officers an idea of what they can expect.

Key themes of the program include racial profiling, professionalism, ethics and integrity as they apply to bias, and "the magnitude of the situation facing officers."

Some of the instructors include Gerald Richard, special assistant to the Attorney General; Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu; Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villaseñor; and attorney Beverly Ginn.

Hipolito Acosta, a retired U.S. immigration agent, will provide instruction on what constitutes reasonable suspicion that someone is in the country illegally. Officials said the training includes factors to consider in determining "reasonable suspicion" that were drawn from court cases as well as federal agencies and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.

Ginn will provide instruction on presumptive forms of identification and what an officer should do when presented with an item from the presumptive list. Neville Kramer, another retired federal agent, will host a unit on immigration documentation.

Officers also will be instructed that any person arrested may not be released until their immigration status is verified by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The training is being provided in digital form with printed handouts because of "the challenges of time, geography and officer availability," a POST letter to Brewer said. The training materials are expected to be in the hands of all agencies by July 29, the law's effective date.

A Web-based tracking system will help POST track which officers actually take the course, though it is not mandatory.